CARTOON ART

FALLING PEOPLE

One of the prominent cartoon art symbols I used in
this series was the “Falling People”. When I started drawing
these characters I wanted to express a sensation of being lost and
wanted them to appear somewhere between floating and falling. The
idea was to separate these lone figures from the crowd but not from
the alienation. While these characters could be seen rising or
falling above the hordes there is little in the symbolism that
signifies escape. Instead these figures serve to bring a vertigo
anxiety to the work and allow individual onlookers relate or find
themselves amidst the otherwise unidentifiable crowds.

Although it became very easy to
associate these images with the events of Sept 11, 2001 it is
interesting to note that I started drawing this series almost a year
prior to the attacks. As mentioned above my intention was to
illustrate a surreal state of mind and not any literal act of
violence. I made over 300 of these small illustrations as part of my
daily routines while commuting to and from college in 1999-2000. I
had about an hour on the bus and subways and was fortunate with both
my schedule and location that I almost always was able to get a good
seat and make use of my time.

At first I filled up a small sketchbook
and then I started cutting up nice paper and making more refined
works. I found a whole bunch of cheap 3 x 5 inch frames and would
arrange them like drawing boards with the paper on top of the glass.
In the end there were around 200 of these mini drawings framed for
exhibition which I sold out within hours for $20 each. In addition to the small works the
falling people were also included in some of the large murals, drawn all over the city as a graffiti street art figure and made into a number of hand drawn animated cartoon art loops of these characters which
I still use in many of my exhibitions to this day.